Patriots Journal: Search is on for Cunningham’s replacement

The Patriots are exploring ways to replace Jermaine Cunningham on the roster, including the possibility of looking outside the organization, coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday.

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PAUL KENYON
Posted Nov. 27, 2012 @ 8:27 pm

The Patriots are exploring ways to replace Jermaine Cunningham on the roster, including the possibility of looking outside the organization, coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday.

The team currently has one defensive lineman, rookie Marcus Fortson, and one linebacker, second-year man Jeff Tarpinian, on its practice squad. Cunningham has played both on the line and linebacker, although this season he has seen most of his work on the line, at both end and tackle.

One of those two would be the most likely replacement for the suspended Cunningham. Belichick said that he will consider staying within the organization to replace Cunningham, but that he also will meet with player personnel director Nick Caserio to discuss the possibility of finding someone from the outside.

One candidate might be Bobby Carpenter, a veteran linebacker who was with the Pats earlier but was released a month ago.

On Cunningham, who was suspended Monday for four games for use of performance-enhancing drugs, Belichick said, “It’s a league matter, so it’s really out of our hands.”

“People make mistakes,” Belichick said. “Everyone’s accountable for them. Those situations are unfortunate.”

Cunningham became the second Patriot to be suspended this season for breaking the rules on PED use. Rookie running back Brandon Bolden was suspended three weeks ago for the same reason.

“Neither one of them needed to happen. They weren’t that important,” Belichick said, “but they were violations.”

Bengals-like defense

Just about every week, it seems, Belichick explains what his team’s opponent does by comparing it to another NFL club.

This week is no different. The Pats are playing Miami, but the Dolphins defense will look like the Cincinnati Bengals have in recent seasons, according to Belichick. His breakdown came when asked on Tuesday about the Miami defense.

“I think it’s probably most similar to the Cincinnati defense. [Defensive coordinator] Kevin Coyle was there at Cincinnati with Marvin Lewis and that scheme, of course, with Marvin kind of goes back to Baltimore and Pittsburgh,” Belichick began.

“There’s a 3-4 element to it with some over and under, if you will, like the Bengals play. It’s a three-man line, but it’s a four-man line — Baltimore, Cincinnati-ish. They run a lot of pressure, they do a lot of different blitz zones with their inside linebackers up on the line a lot,” Belichick explained.

“Again, like Cincinnati does, but that combined with edge pressure and it’s a combination of blitz zone with some man pressure with a variety of coverages.”

Coyle showed a sense of humor when he was asked by Florida reporters how he plans to stop Tom Brady and the Patriots offense.

“I’m open for anybody’s suggestions,” he said jokingly.

“They just do such a great job of executing their offense. They’re not a team that uses a lot of trickery. They are a team that does a great job of working matchups and they’re built that way. They’ve got speed receivers, quick receivers, big receivers.

“When you do things to try to negate their passing game, as evidenced this year, they’re very effective running the ball. So they pose a lot of problems for you in terms of the matchups,” Coyle said. “Honestly, we didn’t have great success against them in Cincinnati and I hope that we can do a better job here.”

Newcomer gets a shot

The Patriots’ willingness to experiment is evidenced again in the case of Markus Zusevics.

The offensive tackle was activated from the injured list last week even though the team had seen very little of him in action. Zusevics played at Iowa, where former Belichick assistant Kirk Ferentz is the coach.

Zusevics was considered a good-enough prospect to be invited to the scouting combine last February. However, while bench-pressing he suffered a torn pectoral muscle. He was going to be sidelined for an extended time, so no one drafted him. The Pats signed him as a free agent, had him on the injured list and now have activated him.

“We didn’t get to see him in training camp either, other than jogging around in shorts. But he just started practicing a couple weeks ago, as you know,” Belichick said. “[He] had a real good career at Iowa, got hurt last year at the combine in February and really has been rehabbing pretty much up to the point where he was allowed to begin practicing a few weeks back.

“I think he’s worked really hard. He’s made good progress physically with his overall strength and conditioning. Technique-wise, he’s definitely behind, as you would expect, but he’s working hard to catch up on that. He played tackle in college [and] he’ll work there for us.”

Eagle flying in?

The possibility of another “experiment” for the Patriots opened up Tuesday when one of Belichick’s friends, Eagles’ coach Andy Reid, made a roster move.

In a major surprise, the Eagles cut defensive lineman Jason Babin, who had 18 sacks last season and 5˝ this season. Babin, 32, is in the middle of a five-year, $28-million contract. He is viewed as a player still near the top of his game. After losing seven straight games, the Eagles obviously are cutting payroll.

“We appreciate everything that Jason has given this team over the last couple of years. We wish him all the best as he continues his career,” Reid said in a statement. “By releasing him today, this gives us an opportunity to give more playing time to some of the younger guys in the defensive line rotation.”

The loss of Cunningham and an injury to rookie Chandler Jones could give the Patriots reason to consider signing Babin.